8 Powerful Protocols for Stress Relief and To Reclaim Your Inner Calm

Imagine a life free from the clutches of stress, where inner peace reigns supreme.

Brace yourself for a transformative journey as we unveil eight game-changing stress relief protocols.

These aren't your run-of-the-mill relaxation techniques; they're powerful, scientifically-backed strategies designed to reclaim your well-being.

Ready to increase your vitality and embrace a life of calm?

Let's dive in and discover how you can become the master of your stress, not its victim.

1. Daily Meditation: The Foundation of Stress Relief

Meditation stands as a fundamental pillar in the realm of effective stress management. This ancient practice, now backed by modern scientific research, offers a powerful antidote to the daily pressures of contemporary life. By dedicating a mere 10-15 minutes each day to mindfulness practice, you can embark on a transformative journey that not only significantly reduces stress levels but also cultivates a more resilient and balanced state of mind.

The beauty of meditation lies in its simplicity and accessibility. It requires no special equipment or expensive memberships, just a quiet space and a willingness to turn inward. Through regular practice, individuals often report a cascade of positive effects that extend far beyond stress reduction. These benefits include improved focus and concentration, enhanced emotional regulation, better sleep quality, and even physical health improvements such as lowered blood pressure and reduced chronic pain.

Meditation serves as a powerful tool for improving overall mental health. It can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, boost self-awareness, and foster a greater sense of inner peace and contentment. By creating a daily ritual of mindfulness, you're essentially training your brain to respond more calmly to stressors, building a mental resilience that can serve you well in all aspects of life.

• Benefits of daily meditation:

  • Reduces anxiety and depression

  • Improves focus and concentration

  • Enhances emotional regulation

  • Promotes better sleep quality

To get started, try a simple breathing meditation. Find a quiet space, sit comfortably, and focus on your breath for a few minutes each day.

2. Schedule an Hour Weekly to Recharge

In our increasingly hectic and demanding lives, it has become more crucial than ever to carve out dedicated time for self-care and relaxation. The constant barrage of responsibilities, deadlines, and digital distractions can easily overwhelm us, leading to chronic stress and burnout. By consciously scheduling an hour each week for activities that truly rejuvenate and nourish your mind, body, and spirit, you can create a powerful buffer against the pressures of daily life. This intentional act of self-care can work wonders for stress relief, providing a much-needed break from the chaos and allowing you to recharge your mental and emotional batteries.

This weekly ritual of relaxation serves as a gentle reminder that your well-being matters and deserves priority. It's not just about taking a break; it's about actively engaging in activities that bring you joy, peace, and a sense of renewal. Whether it's indulging in a leisurely bath, losing yourself in a good book, practicing gentle yoga, or pursuing a beloved hobby, this dedicated hour becomes a sanctuary of calm in the midst of life's storms. By consistently honouring this commitment to yourself, you're not only managing stress in the moment but also building resilience for future challenges.

• Ideas for your weekly recharge hour:

  • Take a relaxing bath

  • Read a book for pleasure

  • Practice yoga or gentle stretching

  • Engage in a favorite hobby

Remember, this time is for you. Treat it as a non-negotiable appointment with yourself.

3. The Quick Reset: 4 Deep Breaths

When life throws unexpected curveballs and stress levels soar, having a quick and effective reset technique at your disposal can be a game-changer. The 4 deep breaths method stands out as an elegantly simple yet remarkably powerful stress relief protocol that you can employ anywhere, at any time, without any special equipment or preparation. This versatile technique harnesses the natural calming power of controlled breathing to rapidly shift your body and mind from a state of stress to one of relative calm and clarity.

The beauty of this method lies in its accessibility and immediate impact. Whether you're facing a high-pressure situation at work, navigating a challenging personal interaction, or simply feeling overwhelmed by the demands of daily life, these four deep breaths can serve as a momentary oasis of tranquillity. By focusing your attention on your breath and engaging in this brief but intentional practice, you can effectively interrupt the stress response cycle, allowing your nervous system to recalibrate and your mind to regain its composure.

1. How to perform the 4 deep breaths reset:

   1. Inhale deeply through your nose for 4 counts

   2. Hold your breath for 4 counts

   3. Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 counts

   4. Repeat this cycle 4 times

This quick reset can help calm your nervous system and bring you back to a state of balance in just a minute or two.

4. 4-7-8 Breathing: A Powerful Stress-Busting Technique

The 4-7-8 breathing technique, a structured and powerful approach to breathwork developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, offers a potent method for managing stress and promoting relaxation. This carefully crafted breathing pattern leverages the body's natural rhythms to induce a state of calm, making it an invaluable tool in our stress-relief arsenal. By engaging in this deliberate breathing exercise, practitioners can tap into the body's innate ability to self-regulate, effectively countering the physiological effects of stress and anxiety. The beauty of this technique lies not only in its simplicity but also in its profound impact on both the body and mind, providing significant and immediate stress relief benefits that can be felt even after just a few cycles of practice.

1. Steps for 4-7-8 breathing:

   1. Inhale quietly through your nose for 4 seconds

   2. Hold your breath for 7 seconds

   3. Exhale completely through your mouth for 8 seconds

   4. Repeat this cycle 4 times

Practice this technique twice daily for maximum stress relief benefits.

5. Taking Sabbaticals: Extended Breaks for Deep Renewal

While not universally feasible, the practice of taking occasional sabbaticals can yield profound benefits for both stress relief and personal growth. These extended breaks from routine work and responsibilities offer a unique opportunity to step back, reflect, and recharge on a deeper level than typical vacations allow. Sabbaticals provide individuals with the time and space to explore new interests, gain fresh perspectives, and engage in meaningful self-discovery. This intentional pause in one's career or daily life can lead to increased creativity, enhanced problem-solving abilities, and a renewed sense of purpose upon return. The extended nature of sabbaticals allows for a more comprehensive reset of one's mental and emotional state, potentially leading to long-lasting improvements in overall well-being and stress management.

• Benefits of sabbaticals:

  • Complete mental and physical reset

  • Opportunity for self-reflection and personal development

  • Enhanced creativity and problem-solving skills

  • Improved work-life balance

Even if a full sabbatical isn't possible, consider taking extended weekends or "staycations" for mini-sabbaticals.

6. No Work Weekends: Reclaiming Your Personal Time

In our hyper-connected digital age, the boundaries between work and personal life have become increasingly blurred, making it all too easy for professional responsibilities to encroach upon our precious weekend time. This constant connectivity can lead to heightened stress levels, diminished work-life balance, and eventual burnout. Recognizing this challenge, implementing a strict "no work weekends" policy emerges as a powerful and essential stress relief protocol. By consciously setting aside dedicated time for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits, individuals can create a much-needed buffer against the relentless demands of the modern workplace.

This intentional separation between work and personal time not only allows for physical and mental recuperation but also fosters a healthier relationship with one's career. It provides an opportunity to engage in activities that bring joy, nurture relationships, and promote overall well-being. By consistently honoring this boundary, you're likely to return to work on Monday feeling refreshed, reinvigorated, and more productive, ultimately benefiting both your personal life and professional performance.

• Tips for maintaining work-free weekends:

  • Set clear boundaries with colleagues and clients

  • Turn off work-related notifications

  • Plan enjoyable activities for your weekends

  • Practice saying "no" to work-related requests during your off time

By protecting your personal time, you'll return to work more refreshed and productive.

7. Done for the Day Time: Creating a Clear Work-Life Boundary

Establishing a clear "done for the day" time is a powerful strategy for managing work-related stress and enhancing your overall quality of life. By implementing a consistent end-of-work routine, you create a distinct boundary between your professional and personal life, allowing for better mental separation and relaxation. This practice not only helps in reducing the constant pressure of work-related thoughts during off-hours but also promotes a healthier work-life balance, leading to improved well-being and increased job satisfaction. Even better, having a set "done for the day" time can boost productivity during work hours, as it encourages more focused and efficient task completion within a defined timeframe.

• Steps to implement a "done for the day" routine:

  • Set a specific time to end your workday

  • Create a shutdown ritual (e.g., tidying your workspace, reviewing tomorrow's tasks)

  • Physically leave your workspace if possible

  • Engage in a relaxing activity to transition into personal time

This practice helps create a mental shift from work mode to relaxation mode, reducing stress and improving work-life balance.

8. Pull Instead of Push Work: A Stress-Reducing Productivity Approach

The concept of "pull" work, as opposed to "push" work, represents a paradigm shift in how we approach tasks and manage our workload. This innovative approach to productivity can significantly reduce stress levels while simultaneously enhancing overall job performance and satisfaction. By adopting a pull work methodology, individuals can create a more balanced and sustainable work environment, leading to improved mental well-being and increased efficiency in task completion. This strategy empowers employees to take greater control over their workflow, allowing them to focus on high-priority tasks and minimize the overwhelming feeling often associated with traditional "push" work systems.

• Key principles of pull work:

  • Focus on one task at a time

  • Complete current tasks before taking on new ones

  • Limit work in progress

  • Prioritize based on importance and urgency

By switching to a pull work approach, you can reduce the overwhelming feeling of having too much to do, leading to less stress and more accomplishment.

Your Path to Stress Relief

Incorporating these eight stress relief protocols into your life can lead to significant improvements in your overall well-being. Remember, stress relief is a journey, not a destination. Be patient with yourself as you implement these techniques, and don't hesitate to seek professional help if you're struggling with chronic stress.

At Flow Spa, we're committed to supporting your journey towards a stress-free life. Consider complementing these protocols with our stress-relief services, such as float therapy or massage, for an even more comprehensive approach to stress management.

Start your stress relief journey today, and discover the peace and balance you deserve.

The Science Behind Massage: How Peterborough Massage Therapists Are Revolutionizing Pain Management

In the heart of Ontario, Peterborough has become a hub for innovative massage therapy practices. Long gone are the days when massage was considered merely a luxury spa treatment.

Today, Peterborough's skilled therapists are at the forefront of a revolution in pain management, blending traditional techniques with cutting-edge science to offer relief to those suffering from chronic pain.

In this article we’ll go into the science of massage therapy for pain management, exploring how local practitioners are changing lives one session at a time.

The Science of Pain

To understand how massage therapy is revolutionizing pain management, we must first delve into the science of pain itself. Pain is a complex neurological process that involves various pathways in our body. It can be broadly categorized into two types: acute pain, which is usually sharp and temporary, and chronic pain, which persists over long periods.

Chronic pain is a significant public health issue, affecting 1 in 5 adults globally (World Health Organization, 2021). Our brain processes pain signals through a network of nerves that transmit information from the site of injury or discomfort to the central nervous system. This process, known as nociception, is influenced by various factors, including our emotional state, past experiences, and even our beliefs about pain. Understanding this intricate system is crucial for developing effective pain management strategies.

Recent research has shed light on the concept of neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. This understanding has opened up new avenues for pain management, as it suggests that chronic pain can potentially be "unlearned" through various interventions, including massage therapy.

Traditional Approaches to Pain Management

Conventional pain management techniques have long relied on pharmaceutical interventions, physical therapy, and in some cases, surgical procedures. While these methods can be effective, they often come with limitations and potential side effects. For instance, long-term use of pain medications can lead to dependency and other health issues.

Physical therapy, while beneficial, may not always address the root cause of pain, especially when it's related to chronic stress or emotional factors. Surgical interventions, while sometimes necessary, come with inherent risks and long recovery periods. These limitations have led many to seek alternative approaches to pain management, paving the way for the rise of massage therapy as a viable and effective option.

The Massage Therapy Revolution in Peterborough

Peterborough's massage therapists are pioneering innovative techniques that address pain at its root. By combining a deep understanding of anatomy with advanced manipulation techniques, they're offering new hope to those who have found little relief through traditional methods.

One such success story is that of Sarah, a 45-year-old office worker who had suffered from chronic lower back pain for years. After just six sessions with our Peterborough massage therapist specializing in deep tissue massage therapy, Sarah reported a 70% reduction in her pain levels and significantly improved mobility. "I had tried everything," Sarah recounts. "Pain medications, chiropractors, even acupuncture. But it wasn't until I started regular massage therapy sessions that I finally found relief."

Sarah's story is not unique. Many Peterborough residents are discovering the transformative power of massage therapy, particularly when it comes to managing chronic pain conditions. Local therapists are not just treating symptoms; they're addressing the underlying causes of pain, leading to more sustainable and holistic healing.

Scientific Evidence Supporting Massage for Pain Relief

Recent studies have provided compelling evidence for the efficacy of massage therapy in pain management. Neurologically, massage has been shown to stimulate the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. It also appears to reduce the production of stress hormones like cortisol, which can exacerbate pain perception. A study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience found that massage therapy led to increased serotonin and dopamine levels, neurotransmitters associated with mood regulation and pain reduction.

Furthermore, research has demonstrated that regular massage can help reduce inflammation in the body. This anti-inflammatory effect can be particularly beneficial for those suffering from conditions like arthritis or fibromyalgia.

Cutting-edge Techniques in Peterborough

Peterborough therapists are employing a range of advanced techniques to target pain:

• Deep tissue manipulation: This technique applies firm pressure and slow strokes to reach deeper layers of muscle, effectively breaking down scar tissue and adhesions that can cause chronic pain. Peterborough therapists are particularly skilled at tailoring the pressure to each client's comfort level, ensuring maximum benefit without discomfort.

• Trigger point therapy: By applying pressure to specific points in the muscle, therapists can relieve pain that radiates to other parts of the body. This technique is particularly effective for treating conditions like tension headaches and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders.

• Myofascial release: This technique focuses on releasing tension in the fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds muscles and organs, providing relief from overall body tension and pain. Peterborough therapists are at the forefront of incorporating the latest research on fascia into their treatments, leading to more effective and long-lasting results.

• Neuromuscular therapy: This advanced technique addresses the relationship between the nervous system and the muscular system. By applying precise pressure to specific areas, therapists can help reset dysfunctional patterns in the nervous system, leading to pain relief and improved function.

Integrating Technology with Massage Therapy

Peterborough therapists are also embracing technology to enhance their treatments. Tools like percussive therapy devices and infrared heat are being integrated into massage sessions to amplify the benefits.

One particularly innovative approach being used in Peterborough is the integration of float therapy with massage therapy. This combination of physical therapy and mental relaxation has shown promising results, particularly for clients dealing with anxiety-related pain and chronic stress.

The Role of Customization in Pain Management

One size does not fit all when it comes to pain management. Peterborough therapists excel in tailoring treatments to individual needs. By conducting thorough assessments and listening closely to patients' experiences, they create personalized treatment plans that evolve as the patient's condition improves.

This customization extends beyond just the physical techniques used. Peterborough therapists are increasingly taking a holistic approach, considering factors such as a client's lifestyle, stress levels, and even dietary habits when designing treatment plans. This comprehensive approach ensures that the benefits of massage therapy extend well beyond the treatment room, leading to more sustainable pain relief and overall wellness.

Combining Massage with Other Therapies

The holistic approach to pain management in Peterborough often involves combining massage with other therapies for synergistic effects:

• Psychotherapy: Addressing the mind-body connection in pain management, therapists often work in tandem with mental health professionals to help patients manage the psychological aspects of chronic pain. This integrated approach recognizes that chronic pain can have significant emotional and mental health impacts and that addressing these aspects is crucial for comprehensive pain management.

• Contrast therapy: By alternating hot and cold treatments, therapists can enhance circulation and reduce inflammation, complementing the benefits of massage. This technique is particularly effective for sports injuries and chronic conditions like fibromyalgia.

• Float therapy: Our wellness centre at Flow Spa in Peterborough offers float therapy sessions, where patients experience weightlessness in a sensory deprivation tank, promoting deep relaxation and stress relief that enhances the effects of massage. The combination of float therapy and massage has shown remarkable results in reducing both physical and mental stress.

John, a former athlete was dealing with both physical pain and anxiety, and in this client example, we were able to see the power of this combined approach. By integrating massage therapy with float sessions, John reported not only reduced pain but also improved sleep and overall quality of life. "It's not just about managing pain anymore," John says. "It's about reclaiming my life and feeling whole again."

The Future of Pain Management in Peterborough

As research continues to validate the benefits of massage therapy, our clinic in Peterborough is poised to remain at the forefront of pain management innovation. Emerging trends include the integration of artificial intelligence for more precise treatment planning and the use of wearable technology to track patients' progress between sessions.

Peterborough's massage therapists are truly revolutionizing pain management. By combining scientific understanding with innovative techniques and a holistic approach, they're offering new hope to those suffering from chronic pain. The integration of advanced technologies, personalized treatment plans, and complementary therapies is setting a new standard for pain management not just in Peterborough, but potentially across the entire field of massage therapy.

As we look to the future, it's clear that Peterborough will continue to be a hub of innovation in massage therapy and pain management.

Whether you're dealing with persistent discomfort or simply looking to improve your overall well-being, exploring massage therapy and its complementary treatments in Peterborough could be the key to unlocking a pain-free future. As the field continues to evolve, one thing remains constant: the commitment of Peterborough's massage therapists to provide compassionate, effective, and scientifically grounded care to all who seek their help.

Book a massage at Flow Spa to experience the deep health benefits of our approach to pain management.

Escape The Burnout Cycle With These 7 Self-Care Strategies

Escape The Cycle of Burnout With These Self-Care Strategies

In today’s fast-paced world, the push for personal growth often sets a relentless pace. The constant drive to be better and do more creates a paradox where the goal of self-improvement itself leads to burnout, impacting your mental, emotional, and physical health.

Ultimately, striving for perfection in every aspect of self-improvement seeds constant dissatisfaction, trapping you in a cycle of unfulfilled expectations and diminished well-being.

In this article, courtesy of Flow Spa, we’ll go over several things you can do to prevent burnout and live your best life.

Stop Ignoring Your Needs

Ignoring the signs of stress, exhaustion, or emotional strain only hastens your journey to burnout, as it blocks you from tackling the root causes. Networking and nurturing professional relationships are crucial, as they open up new opportunities and offer support. However, these activities also require a significant investment of time and energy. It's essential to maintain these connections by reaching out to your contacts a few times a year. Be cautious, as failing to address the underlying issues can turn even these beneficial efforts into additional sources of stress.

Tame The Overwhelm of Ambitious Goals

You set ambitious goals, aiming to improve every facet of your life simultaneously. This ambition, though admirable, can quickly become your Achilles' heel. The pressure to achieve these goals can become overwhelming, leading to a sense of failure and burnout. It’s like running a marathon with no finish line in sight; the constant strain without respite drains your energy and dampens your spirit. It’s much better to make SMART goals, which are measurable and, more importantly, attainable.

Watch Out For The Trap of Perfectionism

Striving for perfection in every aspect of your life sets you up for unrealistic expectations and continuous dissatisfaction. This quest often leads to feeling perpetually inadequate, with goals always just beyond reach. Over time, the disappointment of not meeting these expectations erodes your confidence and accelerates burnout. The drive for flawlessness in both your career and personal life traps you in a cycle of never feeling good enough. However, it’s important to realize that everyone makes mistakes and that sometimes, failure leads to opportunity.

The Cost of Continuous Hustle

Neglecting rest and relaxation in your quest for constant self-improvement depletes your mental and physical energy, raising the risk of burnout. Constant activity without adequate rest can leave you feeling drained and vulnerable to burnout. Make time for relaxing hobbies, or consider unplugging from technology on a regular basis. These are easy ways to give your mind and body a break so you can be your best possible self.

Don’t Sacrifice Relationships

Your relentless focus on self-improvement can unintentionally alienate you from friends, family, and loved ones. Relationships require time and attention to flourish. By investing all your energy into personal growth, you may neglect these crucial connections, leading to isolation. This loneliness can compound the feelings of burnout, creating a cycle that’s hard to break. It’s a good idea to set time aside each week to spend quality moments with your friends and loved ones.

Stop Disregarding Your Inner Voice

Your body and mind give signals when you’re pushing too hard. Ignoring these warnings and continuing to strive beyond your limits can have serious consequences. Listening to your intuition and giving yourself permission to take breaks are crucial steps in preventing burnout. It’s important to remember that slowing down doesn’t mean you’re giving up; it means you’re giving yourself the chance to continue.

Avoid Losing Your Sense of Self

An overemphasis on self-improvement can blur the line between who you are and who you aim to be, risking a loss of self-identity and increasing your vulnerability to burnout. This obsession may cause you to pour energy into transforming yourself, neglecting your true self in the process. This misalignment between your real self and the ideal self you strive for can lead to a profound sense of dissatisfaction. Recognizing and mitigating this overemphasis is crucial in preventing burnout and preserving your sense of identity.

The journey of self-improvement is filled with opportunities for growth and learning. However, it’s essential to approach this journey with a sense of balance and self-awareness to avoid the pitfalls of burnout. Remember, the goal is not to achieve perfection but to make progress in a way that is sustainable and fulfilling. By being mindful of the warning signs and prioritizing your well-being, you can enjoy the journey of self-improvement without sacrificing your health and happiness.

Let’s strive for a balanced approach to personal growth, where self-compassion and realistic goals lead the way to a rewarding and balanced life.

Learn more about our services designed to help you relax and rejuvenate, visit Flow Spa today!

How To Relieve Stress During Back-To-School Time

6 Tips For a Stress-Free Fall

Wouldn’t it be nice if Back To School could be stress-free?

I don’t know anyone who actually thinks this time of year is stress-free. We frantically try to relax for Labour Day only to be thrust into the muck of the first day of school.

If only life could be like that Staples commercial that plays “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” song for Back To School time.

Traffic is crazy. We know sniffles will be spreading soon. We experience the life transition of the kids growing up and going off to school or starting a new chapter.

When everything feels so chaotic it’s hard to keep a perspective on what we can control.

With back-to-school time, we start thinking and worrying about all those things that feel so stressful as we head into the darker and colder months.

That tickle in the back of your throat becomes a pervasive thought that maybe you’re getting sick.

All the things you have to do start piling up.

It feels like there’s no time to yourself.

But we do have the power to stop this rumination from getting out of control.

Our thoughts and actions are some of the few things we can have complete control over with practice.

And it’s simple actions during busy times of the year that will make us Unstressable and save us from burning out completely.

It’s not about trying to cram in more, but about taking the right actions to manage stress well.

While there are nearly infinite things we can do to work on improving our health, it’s not about having the perfect 3-hour morning routine, fancy biohacking gadgets, or any fad diet that quickly goes out of style.

These are just a few starting points that most people find doable. Pick just one of these at a time to work on that feel most ready to take action on:

• Take 15-Minutes To Plan Your Week

• Have 5-10 Minutes a Day To Breathe and Ground Yourself

• Add in 1-2 Good Nutrition Practices To Keep Your Body and Especially Your Immune System Healthy

• Improve Your Sleep Hygiene and Bedtime Routine

• Write Down 3 Things You Are Grateful For Each Day

• Get 10-15 Minutes of Outdoor Activity Daily

Plan Your Day to Stay Stress-Free

A well-structured day helps keep stress at bay. Set aside time for your tasks, prioritize what’s important, and be sure to include breaks. This isn’t always realistic but we do our best to feel our best.

Strive for progress over perfection.

Take Time for Yourself Each Day

Self-care is crucial, especially during hectic times. Whether it’s a few minutes of meditation, a relaxing bath, or a visit to Flow Spa, make sure to dedicate time to recharge.

Include time for this in your week before you schedule tasks and appointments by using the Reverse Productivity Method.

Eat Slowly and Mindfully

Rushing through meals can add unnecessary stress. Mindful eating is a sneaky way to practice mindfulness without taking any additional time out to meditate.

Slow down, savour each bite, and practice mindful eating to improve digestion and reduce stress.

Improve Your Sleep Routine

A good night’s sleep is the foundation of a productive day. Set a consistent bedtime, create a calming pre-sleep routine, and ensure your sleep environment is comfortable.

Practice Gratitude Daily

Focusing on what you’re grateful for can shift your mindset and reduce stress. Take a moment each day to reflect on the positives, no matter how small. Let go of troubles from the past and think about the bright spots that bring you joy.

Get Outdoor Activity

Fresh air and physical activity are powerful stress relievers. Whether it’s a morning walk or an evening jog, spending time outdoors can significantly improve your mood and well-being.

While I like to get outside daily, even 15 minutes just three times per week is enough to reduce stress levels as the weather gets colder again.

One Action At A Time Is All It Takes

Work on taking action for a week and assess how it went for you. Keep doing it if it’s doing you some good, and if it isn’t, try something else!

I know that working on these habits can be challenging, which is why I’ve put together a Back To School Stress Challenge. It’s designed with quick actions and lessons to provide you with accountability and support as you work on these health goals.

The challenge is free to join for those committed to improving their well-being this fall. However, spots are limited due to the personalized attention I provide for everyone in the challenge through the Flow Coach platform.

If you're interested in learning more about the Back To School Stress Challenge and how it can help you create lasting health habits, click the link below to go to the sign up page.

4 Ways The Support of Psychotherapy with Harnessing Change in Peterborough Will Help You

Psychotherapy can have a profound impact on the social, mental, and emotional Deep Health domains of your life. That’s why we pursued ways to enrich these domains of Deep Health by adding psychotherapy to our services at Flow Spa.

We are dedicated to providing exceptional care and support through our partnership with Harnessing Change in Peterborough.

Here are four ways our psychotherapy services can help you on your journey toward mental well-being.

1. Incredible Empathy and Professional Care

One of the cornerstones of effective psychotherapy is the ability to empathize deeply with clients.

At Flow Spa, we pride ourselves on offering incredible empathy and professional care. Our therapists are not only skilled professionals but also compassionate listeners who genuinely care about your well-being.

We create a safe and supportive environment where you can openly explore your thoughts and feelings without judgment.

2. Extensive Training and Experience

Our team at Harnessing Change boasts extensive training and experience, ensuring that you receive the highest quality care. With 24 years of education in psychology, our therapists bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to every session. We employ various therapeutic approaches, including narrative therapy, to tailor our services to your unique needs. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship issues, our experienced therapists are here to guide you.

3. Choose the Right Therapist for You

Finding the right therapist is crucial for your healing journey. At Flow Spa, we offer a diverse team of therapists, each with their unique specializations to cater to your specific needs.

• Chris Brown: Chris specializes in men’s work and men’s group offerings. His expertise in addressing issues specific to men can help you navigate challenges and foster personal growth.

• Genevieve Brown: Gen focuses on dealing with trauma and enriching relationships. Her compassionate approach helps clients heal from past traumas and build stronger, more fulfilling connections with themselves and others.

4. Support for Couples, Families, and Individual Therapy

Our psychotherapy services at Flow Spa are designed to support a wide range of clients, including individuals, couples, and families. Whether you're seeking individual therapy to address personal issues, couples therapy to improve your relationship, or family therapy to enhance communication and harmony within your household, we have the expertise to help. We believe in the power of therapy to bring about positive change and growth in all aspects of life.

At Flow Spa, in partnership with Harnessing Change, we are committed to helping you harness the power of psychotherapy to transform your life. Our empathetic approach, extensive experience, and tailored therapy options ensure that you receive the support you need to thrive.

Take the first step towards a healthier, happier you by exploring our psychotherapy services today.

The Deep Health Guide To Becoming Unstressable - Free Download of the new eBook -

This guide is designed to help you understand all the ways stress impacts your health and provide examples of what you can do to reduce stress and restore balance in your life. 

Often when I talk to clients they’re surprised to realize that our health is so multidimensional. 

Health seems like it should mean tangible things, like physically being healthy enough to move well and not being injured or sick. But as we’ll explore in this guide, health is made up of 6 dimensions.

Master these dimensions of your health and you can master what it takes to become Unstressable and radically transform your health.

I’m working on getting this guide added as a Kindle book on Amazon for the minimum price it can be listed at but if you want instant access to the eBook as a PDF, click the link below.

Download the eBook for free.

Finding The Right Massage Therapy Treatment for You at Flow Spa in Peterborough

Discover the healing touch of massage therapy

Our Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) are dedicated to providing you with the highest quality care through a variety of therapeutic techniques.

Whether you’re seeking relief from chronic pain, recovering from a sports injury, or simply need a moment to unwind, Flow Spa has the perfect massage treatment for you.

Many of our clients are seeking out massage therapy as a way to relax from stress and ease pain. Massage therapy is a great treatment option for making the most out of the health insurance benefits that you have. And with direct billing available, it’s a breeze to book a treatment and have us take care of the rest of the work in processing payment from your insurance.

Customize your massage to suit your needs and preferences. These are just some of the treatment types that our therapists are trained in and skilled at providing for your best experience.

Deep Tissue Massage: Targeting Pain at Its Source

Deep tissue massage is ideal for those suffering from chronic muscle tension and pain. Our skilled RMTs use firm pressure and slow strokes to reach deeper layers of muscle and fascia. This technique helps break down adhesions (knots) and promotes better blood flow, leading to significant pain relief and improved mobility.

Sports Massage: Enhancing Athletic Performance

Athletes and active individuals can greatly benefit from our sports massage therapy.

Designed to prevent and treat injuries, sports massage incorporates techniques such as stretching, compression, and joint mobilization. Whether you’re preparing for a big event or recovering from one, our RMTs will help optimize your performance and speed up your recovery time.

Prenatal Massage: Nurturing Mothers-to-Be

Expectant mothers can enjoy the numerous benefits of our prenatal massage.

This gentle and soothing treatment focuses on the unique needs of pregnant women, helping to alleviate back pain, reduce swelling, and improve sleep. Our RMTs are trained to ensure both the safety and comfort of the mother and baby, providing a truly relaxing experience.

Relaxation Massage: Your Path to Tranquility

At Flow Spa, we understand the importance of taking time to relax and rejuvenate. Our relaxation massage is designed to help you escape the stresses of everyday life. This gentle and soothing massage focuses on calming the mind and body, using light to moderate pressure and smooth, flowing strokes. Perfect for anyone seeking a tranquil experience, our relaxation massage promotes overall well-being, reduces stress, and enhances your mood.

In addition to the range of massage treatments you’re looking for, some of our registered massage therapists are trained in other modalities to accentuate your treatment.

Hot Stone Massage: Melt Away Stress

Experience the ultimate in relaxation with our hot stone massage. Smooth, heated stones are placed on specific points of the body to warm and loosen tight muscles. The heat from the stones enhances the benefits of the massage, allowing for deeper muscle relaxation and stress relief. This treatment is perfect for those looking to unwind and de-stress.

Cupping Therapy: Ancient Healing for Modern Times

Cupping therapy is a traditional technique that has stood the test of time. This treatment involves placing cups on the skin to create suction, which helps improve blood flow and promote healing. Cupping can relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and increase relaxation. Our RMTs combine cupping with massage for a comprehensive therapeutic experience.

Why Choose Flow Spa in Peterborough?

At Flow Spa, we are committed to your well-being. Our RMTs are highly trained and passionate about helping you achieve optimal health. We offer personalized treatment plans tailored to your specific needs, ensuring you get the most out of each session. Our serene and welcoming environment is designed to enhance your healing experience, making each visit to Flow Spa a step towards a healthier, more relaxed you.

Book Your Appointment Today

Don’t wait to experience the transformative benefits of massage therapy.

Contact Flow Spa in Peterborough today to schedule your appointment. Let our expert RMTs guide you on your journey to wellness.

Call us at 705-230-8575 or click the button below to go to our online booking page to find your next appointment.

3 Legitimate Reasons You Should Not Cold Plunge, and 1 Sure Sign You Definitely Should

Everyone is on the cold plunge kick right now.

In the past year, I've seen a massive rise in the popularity of cold plunging. Before companies started selling at-home cold plunges left, right, and center most people looked at you like you were crazy if you willingly got into cold water. Now that we know there can be legitimate reasons to cold plunge, the concern is less about getting people to take the plunge but when you shouldn't

There are 3 key reasons why it's best to save your dip in cold water for another time.

Reason #1 - Immediately Post-Training

Right after a workout is not when we want to be cold plunging.

I'm sure you've seen images of football players jumping into cold tubs filled with ice after a steamy day at summer training camp. It's been the classic image of cold plunging forever but it's not the right image to portray.

When you hear someone refute the benefits of cold plunges they often pull on research that was done immediately post-training with runners and other athletes. The results show that the cold can blunt the adaptation response that causes muscles to grow bigger and stronger. You probably don't want that because getting results from your workouts are hard enough as it is.

Give yourself at least 3 or 4 hours post-training before plunging into cold water. This gives your body a chance to kick in the adaptation response to training before kicking out additional inflammation with the cold water.

There are much better times to cold plunge than right after your workout. If you're in the middle of a long weekend of back-to-back events you can use the cold water to blunt some pain and freshen back up but for your normal workout routine, save the cold plunges for recovery days and keep them away from your training.

Cold water it seems can be as effective as Advil at cutting down inflammation but we need that initial inflammatory response after a workout to signal muscles to grow bigger and stronger.

Reason #2 - You're Redlining

Have you ever felt like you were on the verge of having a complete meltdown?

Like if one more task hits your plate you'll lose it. This stressed-out state of "too muchness" for too long is how we reach burnout.

When we're redlining on the edge of burnout, our nervous system is already fried. Often when I see someone push themselves through cold plunging when they're already on the edge, the physical and environmental stress of the extreme cold is enough to reach the tipping point. People will feel depleted and run down if they don't have the extra capacity to handle a cold plunge from this state.

So don't cold plunge if you're already pushed to the limit.

How will you know if you're in this state?

If you're feeling frazzled and pushed to your limit, you're probably close enough to want to avoid cold plunging right now. You can also gain insight into the state of your nervous system with HRV or if your resting heart rate or breathing rate has gone up recently.

In this case, spend some time doing activities that promote more relaxation first without the intensity of a cold plunge, like float therapy.

Reason # 3 - You're Already Sick

Maybe you didn't heed the warning of reason 2 and now you're sick. This is definitely not a good time to cold plunge.

The stress of cold water on your system might boost your immune system but not when it's already worn down.

Cold plunging to boost your immune system happens best when you’ve already got a robust and healthy immune system. When you’re fighting off a cold or flu your body needs the resources to recover.

Don’t drain yourself further by plunging when you’re sick.

Now if there's one good reason I've seen to be a for sure sign that you should cold plunge it's this - you're scared.

The cold water may intimidate you. Don’t let it win. Most people may still look at you like you're insane if you willingly take the plunge but that's what separates you from 99% of people.

Bold choices will lead you towards bigger things in your life.

Spring Cleaning For Your Stress

Spring has arrived, and with it comes the ritual of spring cleaning.

But this year, we're not just talking about dusting off your shelves or clearing out your garage.

It's time to consider a deep clean for your stress levels.

This post will guide you through identifying your stressors, tackling them one at a time, and seeking support from your circle.

Let's embark on this journey towards becoming Unstressable.

How To Relieve Stress and Keep It Away This Spring

Effective stress relief requires a strategic approach.

Here’s how you can spring-clean your stress:

Identify Where Your Stress Is Coming From

Is it all the spring cleaning you need to get done?

Making plans for the kids when they’re out of school this summer?

High-interest rates and the financial pressures they’re still putting on us all?

All of the above?

Stress ebbs and flows and while most of us are used to having some stress in our lives, there are times when stressors will clash together and peak. We can handle the stress that we see coming and have built up resilience for but this is the dangerous realm of creeping towards burnout and having nothing left to give.

Before reaching this point, get clear on what’s causing you stress in the past, in the present, and in the future.

There’s only so much that we can control but bringing awareness to the various stressors is the first step to conquering the ill effects of stress once and for all. This is a part of the philosophy of becoming Unstressable.

For more on this, read this article on Deep Health and Stressors and take the quiz to identify your stress fingerprint.

Work On One Action At A Time

You’ve identified what’s most stressful in your life right now, now what do you do about it?

We need to handle stressors better because the reality is that most stressors are not going away anytime soon.

Don’t try to tackle it all at once though. We are all notoriously bad at thinking we can change everything in one fell swoop.

But with many things to manage and competing priorities, the only realistic way to spring clean our stress for lasting stress relief is one step, one action at a time.

You will stick to what you’ve committed to better without getting overwhelmed.

Get Your Friends On Board

Go fast with stress relief alone, or go far together.

Most of us need help and support for stress relief in our lives.

It might seem like a good idea to focus on eliminating stress on your own because you can hunker down and get straight to it.

But leveraging the power of your social circle for support can be even more effective. Not only can friends offer practical help and emotional support, but assisting them in turn can provide a sense of purpose and mutual relief from stress.

Your friends all have things they’re stressing about and by helping them you will help relieve yourself of social stress by rising up together.

When You’re Ready, Here’s How We Can Help More

A Deep Reset For Your Stress

Float therapy is unparalleled relaxation. There are few treatments or experiences as effective at relieving stress across all six dimensions of our health at once.

When you’re redlining the burnout and need a complete reset of your nervous system, floating provides incredible stress relief.

Unstressable

Unstressable is a 6-week online program designed to coach you through everything you need to reclaim control over stress and use it to build resilience.

Together, we can turn the tide on stress and reclaim the more calm, focused, and joyful life you deserve.

I Challenged Myself To Meditate Daily. It Was Life-Changing

For the last year, I stopped meditating daily at the height of the worst year of my life, and it was a disaster.

But why did I stop?

Getting off track with habits that are good for us is something I hear about far too often. It’s easy to get off track when we’re busy and try to tackle too many things at once. Some practices are worth the effort though.

We all have a superpower waiting dormant within us that will defend us from burnout and enhance our focus to be laser-sharp.

Ever since I learned about the value of meditation and how it improves our brains in psychology class close to 15 years ago, I’ve appreciated the power that comes from this skill of honing our focus on the present moment and taming our thoughts.

It not only allows us to focus better, but it opens a whole world of physical and mental capacities that are untapped within us by making the flow state more accessible. Through learning to meditate I was able to push myself physically beyond what my body is normally capable of in training and competing as a strongman. Not being the typical body type for the sport, I’ve always attributed a big part of my success to my mental training to perform so well in competition.

But meditation isn’t only about getting your body to do things physically beyond your normal means, I also become so much more mentally resilient to stressful situations through learning how to hold my focus in the present moment instead of ruminating about the past or getting anxiously caught up in future what ifs.

And for the last year, I let my practice slip. I was regularly having panic attacks and uncontrollable anger at the slightest inconvenience, and I was an emotional mess. A big part of the reason I stopped meditating consistently is the same excuse most of us have about it when we say that there’s no point in meditating because we just can’t get our mind to turn off or we don’t have the time.

I knew I needed to make a change and I went back to the drawing board to figure out a solution.

I started using the Muse Headband daily again at the start of this year. The Muse Headband looks like a pair of sunglasses you put on behind your ears and across your forehead that reads your brainwaves and provides immediate sound feedback while you’re meditating. I figured the advantage to using the Muse is that it helps to guide your brain into a calmer state and gives you a follow up report of what your brain was doing during the meditation session.

Imagine the soundscape of sitting on a beach and listening to the waves and wind on the water. As you calm your brainwaves into a meditative state the wind settles and the waves get softer. You hear birds chirp as a reward signal that you’ve reached a meditative state. When you get distracted, like when you start thinking about the next task on your todo list, a future event, or any other thought, the wind picks up and the waves get rougher, immediately signalling to bring your attention back to the present moment.

I had forgotten how great it was to meditate and the joy of the soundscapes in Muse. There’s a blissful feeling that comes after meditation that you carry with you throughout the whole day. And with time, you start to reign in those intrusive thoughts pulling you out of flow and the present moment. Thankfully, and even more important to me, my emotions are back under control and I am far less anxious.

The skill and practice of meditation will make virtually everything else in your life better.

This can look like sitting cross-legged and doing a formal practice that you’d picture in your mind when you describe meditation, or it can look however you need it to be comfortable enough to keep it going consistently.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, I lay down on my bed when meditating and turn it into a replacement for an afternoon nap. When I started back up I had just herniated a disc in my lower back so sitting upright was out of the question and if that had to be a prerequisite of meditating then I’d be in too much pain to keep it up.

I’d suggest starting with more traditional meditation though. You’ll probably want to be in a comfortable position, seated or lying down is preferable to draw your attention to what your thoughts are doing in a non-judging way or focusing on your breathing.

For now, make your plan to meditate every day this week.

Then try to extend it to 30 days. The difference might be so subtle you hardly notice, but it’s life-changing and well worth it.

Do you have a regular meditation practice? Or what’s holding you back from being consistent with it?

Stress Isn’t Your Enemy

Taking power over stress with a growth mindset

Wrapping your mind around embracing stress as something that can work in your favour is easier said than done. But once you put this into practice, you will have a much clearer plan for handling your specific stressors.

Stress isn’t your enemy. You can harness it to do good in your life. It comes down to making a perspective shift in what stress means to you.

When you’re stressed, like really stressed, and you’re ready to explode this is the last thing that you want to hear. If that’s how you feel right now, take some time to recover before continuing to explore your mindset around stress.

If you’re ready to read on, let’s get to it.

Here’s the thing: We need stress to survive and thrive.

Stress is what gets us up and out the door to start our day and it drives us to want to achieve things.

How we perceive stress is a different process though.

The Two Mindsets

Our perception of stress is also known as our stress mindset.

The original work on understanding mindsets comes from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck.

In her research, she presented a series of math problems to kids and found that some would give up very quickly when the challenge became too hard while others would persevere and embrace the hard questions.

Each kid had a natural orientation towards how they approached challenges with some rising to the occasion and others backing off. It was a character trait that Dr. Dweck named their “mindset” and the good news is that mindsets can be highly influenced. (This can also be bad news, but becoming aware of mindsets helps you to make informed decisions about their power).

For example, kids who successfully answered a math problem and were told "You are very smart" internalized this praise but were fixed on the idea that it was because they were smart that they solved the problem. This can be a problem because intelligence is more of a fixed trait and not something readily changeable. So when a “smart” kid struggles with a problem, they can give up quickly and move on to something they have more of a natural inclination for.

Other children were told "You got the right answer because you worked hard for it" and these kids were found to persevere longer on the more challenging math problems because working hard is something that is directly in their power to do, even if they aren’t the smartest. Framing success around effort is a cornerstone of a growth mindset.

So while we have a natural inclination towards being growth or fixed-oriented, and the way we were raised also influences this, we can take this understanding of how to build a growth mindset and apply it to areas of our lives where we face challenges, like with stress.

Our mindset is so important for how stress impacts us.

Our mindset towards the challenges and setbacks that cause stress lives on this same teeter-totter between something to avoid at all costs because we feel helpless about it, and oriented towards growth, in which we rise to the challenge even if it’s hard.

When we are more oriented towards a fixed mindset about stress then we see it as something bad.

Something to eliminate from our lives immediately and at all costs.

There’s nothing positive or enriching at all about stress. It makes us feel burnt out and overwhelmed.

Like being bombarded by demands from every direction while struggling to catch your breath. When we feel this way there’s no chance we’re going to voluntarily place more stress on our system, at least fully consciously.

Usually, a fixed mindset about stress and seeing it as always a negative thing comes from being in the situation of having too much going on for too long, one too many times. So now getting stressed beats down your resistance to handle further stressors.

And this is indeed different for everyone. We’ll talk about it more with the Stress Sweet Spot and finding your recovery zone, but as one example, individuals still suffering from PTSD have a different recovery profile to stressors because of past trauma.

However, seeing stress from a growth mindset accepts that it’s ok to be stressed out. It’s an indication that something has challenged you, but in being challenged, you can build resilience and become stronger and capable of handling more in the future. People who are growth-minded about stress are also more willing and able to use approach techniques for managing stress so that it is resolved and doesn’t become a pervasive and nagging issue as can happen with avoiding and running away from the stressor.

How Stress = Growth

The clearest analogy that most of us get about how stress promotes growth comes from the gym. Working out with the right amount of intensity is a stressor. Sure, we can do recovery workouts, like yoga, walks, and stretching, but the classic pumping iron puts stress on our bodies. Looking at this purely from the physical dimension of health first, this stress stimulates growth which in turn builds bigger and stronger muscles to handle more weight or reps over time. Adequate recovery is also required though so that we don’t just keep breaking down further, which leads to no progress and even overtraining, which is the exercise equivalent of burnout.

To complicate things further, our mental health can also dictate this pathway to productive growth or overtraining. If we view the training process as a positive because it allows us to build more physical resilience, our training trends towards that progress. But if we view it as too hard and uncomfortable to push a little bit further each training session, we tend to not make progress.

And this is also how our mindset can impact how we handle other stressors too. If your boss adds one more project to your desk and you believe that it’s overwhelming, it will be. But when you tell yourself you can handle it and get better or learn something new because of it, you’re heading more in the right direction with your stress mindset.

When we start to recognize these different scenarios in our lives more often, we gain power over the impacts these stressors have, allowing us to rise to the opportunity to grow from it and not see stress as an enemy.

💖 Make This Valentine's Day Unforgettable at Flow Spa 💖

As Valentine's Day approaches, it's time to think outside the traditional box of chocolates and flowers. This year, give the gift of relaxation and well-being with Flow Spa's exclusive Valentine's Day packages. Treat yourselves with tranquillity and warmth, and let us help you create unforgettable moments with your Valentine.

Treat Your Sweetheart to Ultimate Relaxation

Float Therapy: Dive into serenity with our float therapy sessions. Designed for deep relaxation, our float tanks filled with Epsom salt water offer a peaceful escape from the world. Experience complete calmness together with our Couple’s Float Therapy Package.

Some couples do ask to float in the same cabin although we advise floating in separate float tanks after relaxing in the sauna together or coming back together afterwards for the sauna. These options work much better because even though the float cabins are big enough, it’s meant to be a time in complete solitude to deeply relax.

Sauna Therapy: Elevate your relaxation in our full-spectrum infrared sauna. Detoxify and rejuvenate as you share this warm, soothing experience. Our Couples Sauna Package comes with complimentary tea and honey, perfect for sharing a moment of bliss.

Exclusive Valentine's Day Offers

• Double Relaxation Package: Enjoy 2 x 60-minute floats for just $115.

• Sweet Escape Package: Delight in 2 x 30-minute floats for only $79.

• Warm Embrace Package: Combine 2 x 30-minute floats with a sauna session for $99.

• Lover’s Dream Package: The ultimate indulgence - 2 floats, 2 massages, and a couples sauna for $350.

Book Your Valentine’s Day Package Now

Don't wait to secure your spot for an unmatched experience of relaxation and connection. Our Valentine's Day packages are available now through February 14th, but space is limited. Treat your special someone to a unique and memorable day at Flow Spa with our Couple’s 2 Floats + Sauna Gift Card for just $145.

This Valentine's Day, choose an extraordinary gift that speaks volumes. Choose Flow Spa for a day of relaxation, rejuvenation, and togetherness.

Gift cards are available! Surprise your sweetheart with the promise of a relaxing day to look forward to.

Introducing Psychotherapy Services at Flow Spa: A New Path to Wellness

Welcome to a new chapter at Flow Spa, where we are thrilled to announce the introduction of psychotherapy services as part of our commitment to holistic wellness.

We have always been dedicated to fostering deep health, and now, we are taking a step further by integrating mental health into our care spectrum.

Why is Therapy Beneficial?

In life, we often encounter problematic relationships and challenging situations that can leave us feeling stuck or overwhelmed. Talk therapy offers a space for reflection, growth, and change. It's not just about addressing mental health issues; it's about empowering individuals to align their lives with their values, build confidence, and develop the skills and motivation to improve their situation.

Meet Our Psychotherapists: Christopher Brown and Genevieve Brown

We are delighted to introduce our experienced psychotherapists, Christopher Brown and Genevieve Brown, a husband and wife team with a rich background in Psychology. With a combined 24 years of education and practice, Chris and Gen are dedicated to helping people navigate life's difficulties and mental health challenges. Their client-centred approach fosters a unique therapeutic relationship where both therapist and client learn and grow together. Chris and Gen's flexible, integrative method ensures that therapy is tailored to meet each client's individual goals and needs.

Specialization in Building Strong Relationships

At Flow Spa, we understand the importance of relationships – with oneself, loved ones, and even pets. Chris and Gen specialize in working with individuals seeking personal development, those grieving a loss, and couples or groups looking to enhance their relationships. Their expertise perfectly complements Flow Spa's deep health model, emphasizing the interconnectedness of mind, body, and relationships.

Integrating Wellness and Psychotherapy

Our new psychotherapy services are designed to harmonize with Flow Spa's existing wellness offerings. This integration offers a comprehensive approach to health, addressing both physical and mental well-being. Whether you're floating to relax or engaging in therapy to reflect, our center provides a sanctuary for complete wellness.

Ready to embark on your journey to deeper health?

Book a 15-minute consultation with Chris or Gen and discover how psychotherapy can enrich your wellness experience.

Schedule your session now at https://harnessingchangepsych.janeapp.com/

At Flow Spa, your health and well-being are our top priority. We're excited to offer these new services and look forward to supporting you on your path to wellness.

For more information about our services or to get in touch, check out more information on our website or follow us on our social media channels.

5 Sneaky Ways Stress Sabotages Your Fat Loss (And What To Do About It)

Stress is a common part of our everyday lives, but it can have a significant impact on our health and wellness goals, especially when it comes to fat loss. While it's well known that stress can lead to emotional eating or skipping workouts, the effects of stress on fat loss are more complex and far-reaching.

In this article, we'll explore five ways stress can make fat loss more challenging, and provide strategies to help you manage stress and stay on track with your health goals.

Intensifies Hunger and Cravings

Stress can significantly impact our eating behaviours. When stressed, the body releases cortisol, a hormone that can increase appetite and cravings, particularly for high-fat, sugary, or salty foods. This is why those unhealthy snacks in the cupboard are so tempting when we stress eat. It's a coping mechanism where the brain seeks these comfort foods to counteract stress, often leading to overeating. This increased calorie intake can make it harder to maintain a calorie deficit, which is crucial for fat loss.

Small Actions To Try:

Practice mindful eating. Become fully aware and present while eating, savouring each bite, and listening to the body's hunger and fullness cues. Just eat your meal one bite at a time instead of shovelling food down unconsciously while watching TV. This mindful eating trick is hard to do at first when you feel like you’re starving stressed and want to cope by eating more but because it takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the fullness signal after you start eating, this helps to hit that point without stuffing yourself.

Try to do one minute of deep breathing, meditation, or yoga before your meal. These practices can help reduce the impulse to stress-eat and improve your mindful eating action as well.

Slows Metabolism By Suppressing Thyroid Production

Stress can negatively affect the thyroid gland, which plays a pivotal role in regulating metabolism. Chronic stress can lead to conditions where thyroid hormone production is reduced. This reduction can lead to a slower metabolism, meaning the body burns fewer calories at rest. A slower metabolism can make it more challenging to lose fat, as the body becomes less efficient at using energy.

Small Actions To Try:

Make sure that your diet is rich in nutrients that help to support thyroid health. This includes minerals like iodine, selenium, and zinc. Foods like seafood, nuts, seeds, and whole grains are great sources.

If you suspect a chronic issue with thyroid hormones, consult your doctor or a registered dietitian to get further support.

Drains Your Energy, Making You Too Tired to Work Out

High levels of stress can lead to both physical and mental fatigue. This exhaustion can make it challenging to find the motivation or energy to engage in physical activities, including workouts that help to promote fat loss. Exercise not only helps burn calories but also builds muscle, which can increase your resting metabolic rate. Without regular exercise, achieving a calorie deficit for fat loss becomes more difficult.

Small Actions To Try:

10-minute walks around your block after meals. When stress stacks up and time constraints are making it impossible to hit the gym, fit in shorter activities like going for a walk around your block or searching for a 10-minute stretching or home workout routine on YouTube.

These shorter activities can be more manageable and less daunting than longer workout sessions when you don’t have extra time in your schedule.

Interferes with Sleep

Quality sleep is crucial for weight management and overall health. Stress can lead to sleep disturbances like difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, reducing the overall quality and quantity of sleep. Poor sleep can disrupt the balance of hunger hormones, like ghrelin and leptin, leading to increased appetite and a tendency to overeat. Additionally, lack of sleep can reduce energy levels, further impacting exercise routines and daily activity.

Small Actions To Try:

We love sleep around here and taking small actions to improve “sleep hygiene” is what can help to combat how stress is affecting your sleep.

• Set a regular sleep schedule. Sticking to it even on weekends will help to regulate your sleep cycle even when highly stressed.

• Create a more comfortable sleep environment by eliminating lights, using white noise or earplugs, and keeping your room cool or to the temperature you prefer.

• Turn off screens an hour before bed and switch to other relaxing things like reading, yoga, meditation, or taking a warm bath.

Makes It Difficult to Keep Long-term Goals Front of Mind

Stress can impact cognitive functions such as focus, memory, and decision-making. When under stress, it becomes harder to stay focused on long-term objectives like fat loss goals. Stress can lead to a short-term mindset, where immediate gratification (such as eating comfort foods) takes precedence over long-term benefits. This shift in focus can derail progress towards fat loss goals, as it becomes challenging to adhere to dietary plans and exercise routines that require consistent effort over time.

Small Actions To Try:

Just like we’ve done in this article, break down your long-term health goals into smaller actions.

Use a journal or app like Flow Coach to track your progress and reflect on your achievements. We see much greater success and long-term consistency when we make one small change at a time instead of trying to overhaul our whole routine. This is at the root of our coaching philosophy and how we’ve designed the Flow Coach App.

By understanding and addressing these stress-related challenges, individuals can better navigate their fat loss journey with more effective strategies and a holistic approach to health and well-being.

Boost your motivation to tackle your next goal with our Free 7-Day Motivation Challenge.

Overcome stress and get started on your health goals journey by signing up for our free challenge in the Flow Coach App.

Click here to get started.

Get Started For Free

Each day, you’ll receive a short lesson and simple actions to take that will help to motivate you and move you closer to your goals.

3 Strategies To Use To Float When You Can’t Get Your Mind To Turn Off

“There’s no way I could do that because I can’t get my brain to turn off.”

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard someone use this excuse for why they couldn’t float…

I’d have a lot of nickels.

You might be nodding your head in understanding, or you’re the complete opposite because you know how great it feels to float and let go of everything in your mind and body.

Even I experience this hesitation about settling in for a float on occasion so I wanted to share some thoughts and practices on the best ways to overcome this hesitation and dive into what is bound to be one of the most relaxing hours of your life.

Trust in your float facilitator and surrender to the feeling.

The value of having someone guide your float should not be underappreciated. Going into a float centre is trusting in experts to create the ideal float experience for you so that you have the best chances of escaping from the throws of time for a while.

Because I usually facilitate my own floats and get out on my own accord, I don’t experience this often enough. But I was just in for a float during regular hours for the first time in a long time and I was able to ask Josie to play the music when the time was up.

I knew I had more work to get done that day and a mid-day break like this was unusual, so trying to get my brain to turn off was hard at first.

There was a point I hit when I didn’t think I could wait any longer. I thought that maybe she got busy at the front desk and forgot about me. These are the normal feelings that lots of us go through when we’re detached from our anchor to time and constant connection to the world around us through our devices.

The funny thing is that just as I hit this breaking point, the music gradually started to come back on followed by the lights and the feeling of relief that washed over me as I was gently brought back into the world around me this way instead of just giving up and getting out was amazing.

It’s really hard to describe without experiencing the difference between a float where you set an alarm and get yourself out versus trusting in the facilitator to get you up when the experience is over.

I think the best way to sum it up is to surrender into the float.

Once you’re in the float sometimes the anxiety creeps in because you feel your mind racing. Here are some of the other strategies I use and recommend if you’re thinking of getting out.

The 10 Breaths

It’s incredibly hard to get through doing 10 deep breaths without losing track of the count with thoughts interrupting.

Anytime you feel the urge to get out of your float early or you find that there are too many thoughts jumbling your head, start doing 10 deep breaths while counting. The goal is to try to remain completely focused on your breath and the count alone without any other thoughts coming into your mind. When you lose track of what number you’re on or a different thought comes into your head, you start back over at 1.

It’s a great practice in focus.

And a hard one.

I think it can easily take ten or more minutes to achieve this and by the time you do, you’ll completely lose track of time again and have a much calmer mind to settle back into your float.

Don’t try to force the thoughts away.

Let them happen and they will start to settle down.

Thoughts don’t always have to be tamed.

One of my more frequently used analogies for floating is that it’s like a mental filing cabinet.

Driven, Type A people falsely assume that they “can’t” float because they can’t get their minds to turn off. That there are just too many thoughts always in their head.

We all have adapted the ability to focus and clear our minds of relentless thoughts because this is the gateway to the flow state and it’s evolutionarily adaptive for high-performance situations.

You are going to have a lot of thoughts in your head when you settle into your float.

We all do, all the time.

But as you start to let your body relax and loosen, your mind gets more space to relax as well. The thoughts in our head start to make more sense. They settle like falling leaves on a pond and soon the ripples stop reverberating.

The peace and tranquillity of this state is blissful. Especially when your brain typically goes a mile a minute.

This is the value not only in floating but in taking similar time each day to find a few minutes to become more aware of your thoughts and how your body is feeling. You can do this by leaving your phone behind as you go for a walk or by sitting still in a quiet place.

Training your mind to find more focus and to let go of intrusive thoughts helps in every aspect of our lives. Learning how to do this can be hard in our always plugged-in and distracted society but it’s well worth taking the time to work on.

The skills that we build in the float tank are highly transferable to everyday life and the more busy and crazy the world seems to get, the more important it is to practice these skills, even if you can’t get your mind to turn off.

Doing A Year-End Deep Health Review

It’s no surprise that January is the busiest month of the year inside of gyms.

But physical health only scratches the surface of what having Deep Health means.

There are six domains to our health and if we sacrifice everything else in the name of physical health, we won’t end up feeling satisfied with the effort we’ve put into those goals.

Doing a Deep Health year-end review allows you to see the big picture on your health, leading to feeling the difference in vibrant balance across the different areas of your life.

What areas make up your life?

If you listen to any self-help guru out there, they will have their framework for the different dimensions of your life. Like the Deep Health complete picture, these are the slices of the pie of life that we consider when evaluating the current moment of our life and the time frame we have been through. Some systems will give you 10 sections, others 6, or maybe as little as 4. The Deep Health model is the 6 domains of health that encompass all of our experiences as humans. While you may also like to review other areas of your life when you reflect on your year, like finances or career, these areas can also fit well into the well-supported framework of Deep Health.

Doing a Deep Health Review

While there are many ways to evaluate our life, one of the most impactful to me is to look through the Deep Health lens to get a clear picture of what our overall health and the different aspects looked like and how they have changed in the past year.

Because our health is multi-faceted, it makes a difference to look at a Deep Health framework to understand what is going well in your life and what needs more work and focus to get back on track. Doing your Deep Health review with the Deep Heath Questionnaire doesn’t just have to be done once per year. It’s also helpful to use whenever you face changes or set new goals during the year.

It’ll help you to see your start and endpoints as a result of any goal.

Training for a marathon may improve your physical health and your emotional health if you’re an anxious person who likes to have a focused goal to work towards but all the hours spent training might take away from your social health or diminish your mental health making it hard to focus on work.

Complete a deep health questionnaire and compare it to past scores. Save your results so that you can look back on it again next year.

Click this link to download a copy.

This may be all you want to do with your year-end review to set new health goals through this more expansive lens of your health but if you want to continue on to get even clearer on your health goals next year, review more of the past year first.

Review Your Calendar and Notes

If you don’t keep track of at least some of the ways you spend your time in your calendar or note-taking in a journal, now is a good time to start.

By having the thoughts and experiences of your life captured in the moment, you are keeping a much more permanent record of the stories you are creating. Anytime I feel like I haven’t had enough fun experiences or accomplished enough for myself, I scroll back through my calendar and the notes I’ve captured and can see the progress on the pages there. And so it helps you to look back through all these moments to get that overview of your year as you review it.

This is also one of the more valuable reasons for keeping a Bullet Journal or other simple form of a physical journal. Notes get scattered across different apps and devices on our phones and computers. But in a notebook (or two if you write a lot), you can have a full year's worth of your quick thoughts, events, and experiences and this is my favourite way of seeing what the story of my past year looked like.

As you review your year and think about how it ties into your Deep Health, these are some helpful prompts to consider that will guide the decisions about next year’s goals as well.

What were the highlight moments or experiences? What were some of the best things you accomplished? What challenges did you face? All of these questions that you can review when looking back through your notes will help you to hold yourself accountable when you think about what the next year looks like for you.

More things to take note of as you review your notes from each month this year:

What new places did you visit?

Who did you meet and what relationships did you build?

What new skills did you acquire?

What did you learn about your Deep Health?

I’d love to hear from you about what you’ve realized about your health goals and how Deep Health plays into them.

Leave a comment below if you feel like sharing!

Flow Spa Holiday Gift Guide

Give the gift of complete relaxation.

The festive season sure is in the air this year because we’re doing something special we’ve never done before:

Buy One Get One Free Float Gift Cards

This year Santa is delivering something extra special.

While gifting others with a relaxing float, you may want to treat yourself.

Or give the gift of complete relaxation to more of your friends and family!

This deal is more than we’ve ever done before for the holidays, so it is limited to 2 per customer.

You can still shop the rest of our holiday gift guide for other packages and gift cards to check off those other wishlist items.

Click any of the links below to be taken to the item in our online store.

Gift List Items

Buy One Get One Free Float Gift Card -30 minutes or 60 minutes

Other Treatment Gift Cards

Float + Sauna Gift Card

Float + Massage Gift Card

Couple’s Treatment Gift Cards

Couple’s Sauna + Hot/Cold Plunge Session

Couple’s 2 Float Gift Card + 2-person sauna

Shop In-Store Or Online

When purchasing a Buy One Get One Gift Card, both credits will be on the same gift card code. I’d suggest sharing the same code and telling that friend that you’re both getting a float if you want to share it.

You can also print the gift card twice and let each person know they’re getting one float each or come into the spa and we’ll give you a couple of the physical gift cards with the code on it.

Black Friday Specials Are Here

Black Friday is here and our 5 floats for $225 package is back by popular demand.

But it’s only here for 4 days!

This is the best time to prepare yourself with winter self-care.

This special is only here until Monday.

Also for our avid floaters looking to stock up, we have our 12 float package on for $500.

The Art of Healthy Selfishness: 4 Painful Mistakes The Most Selfless People Make In Self-Compassion

As a child, Jenny was taught that being selfless was the ultimate virtue. She was told to always put others first, sacrificing her own needs for the sake of friends and family. She believed this was the right way to live and started to neglect her own well-being.

Years later, Jenny found herself burnt out and exhausted.

She had given so much of herself to others that she had nothing left for herself. That's when she realized that she had been living a lie. She had been sacrificing her own mental and physical health to take care of everyone who needed her, but in doing so, she was actually doing them a disservice.

It wasn't until Jenny started practicing self-compassion and healthy selfishness that she truly started to thrive.

By taking care of herself, she was able to show up for others in a much more meaningful way. She learned that self-compassion and healthy selfishness are not selfish acts, but rather essential practices that allow us to be our best selves and contribute to the world in a more meaningful way.

Most caregivers take the opposite approach and find themselves teetering on the edge of burnout far too often because of it.

Healthy selfishness lifts others up

Healthy selfishness is the oxygen mask analogy.

When boarding a flight, the pre-flight instructions tell us all that in the case of an emergency, if the cabin pressure drops, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling and you must put your mask on first. It's not just a good idea, if you can't breathe you'll be of no help to anyone else you're trying to support.

Doing things that are good for and support you helps you to contribute more to others as a giver as well.

Things that are good for you require the right boundaries.

We often think of boundaries as walling ourselves off but boundaries are about have clear and firm lines between the different parts of our lives so that we don't let other people influence our inner harmony.

Having unclear boundaries mentally stresses and fatigues us and doesn't help us to present our best self to whatever we are doing. We've seen this happening a lot in the last several years since technology has made it so easy to work from home around the clock. When we can be on Zoom calls for meetings at home in the living room at 7 or 8 pm, the workday becomes a never-ending loop. The work and home-life boundary is a clear example to make but we also see boundaries getting breached in our close friendships and family relationships. Recognizing this is the first step to having clear boundaries.

By protecting your boundaries and saying no when you need to, you are also being courageous to do something that gives others the excuse to say no as well. Healthy selfishness is infectious.

Healthy selfishness breaks down the false dichotomy between being selfish in supporting oneself or being selfless by giving all of yourself to others.

How do you put this into practice without sounding rude or disappointing others?

Have a polite but firm answer that you can use when you've decided that you need some recharge time for yourself. In Scott Barry Kaufman's book Choose Growth, he gives examples of protecting your boundaries and how to talk to others about your self-care. Give a clear and simple response, like “I’m afraid I can’t go out tonight; I am giving myself some much-needed self-care time.”

This will give others the confidence to practice the same for themselves and they will have respect for your courage to do so.

Practicing self-compassion will teach you to have more healthy selfishness

Self-compassion is an important part of having a growth mindset and learning how to develop into your best self. But most people suck at practicing it. Why is it that we push ourselves relentlessly or tell ourselves that we could have done better with our efforts?

Self-compassion consists of:

• common humanity - recognizing that other people struggle too and we aren't so unique and isolated in our suffering.

• self-kindness - not beating ourselves up so much.

• mindfulness - becoming more aware of how we are feeling deep within.

By valuing our own well-being, we can create a more compassionate and supportive world for everyone.

When was the last time that you actually let yourself feel a sense of accomplishment at something you did? And I’m not talking about a 5-second pause before starting up the next project on your list.

This is a hard skill to develop in yourself. Self-compassion will positively change your life and so you owe it to yourself to put in the effort to rewrite some of these invisible scripts that you tell yourself about self-compassion so that you can go further while also being appreciative of where you are now.

Underlying scripts from society

Fear of other people’s opinions or FOPO holds us back from being self-compassionate. When you’re hurting and need a day off from the gym, you find yourself watching Navy SEALS on Instagram waking up before the sun to run 100 miles and you think about how if they can do that, you shouldn’t be taking a day off.

Or when your eyes are bugging out of your head from working at a computer all day but you think about that entrepreneur online who is hustling hard 24/7 and so you just keep on working through the exhaustion and digging a deeper hole for yourself.

These underlying scripts tell us that we will be judged and criticized for doing what we feel in our hearts we need at the moment to recharge or just take care of ourselves.

The misconception that self-compassion means complacency.

We find meaning in progress because we are hard-wired that way. Our brains are constantly seeking out the next step on our journey.

Recognizing that we are driven by dopamine is an important part of having more self-compassion. By knowing this, we can identify when we are feeling unease at sitting still or seemingly not making enough progress. And once we can recognize this, we can accept and embrace that progress looks differently for everyone and sometimes the best progress comes from taking a break to recover and recharge. Or that it means pivoting to something new when what we’ve been attempting is no longer working for us.

Self-compassion feels soft and vulnerable.

Most people want to avoid vulnerability at all costs. They keep their secrets held close and don’t open up about anything to anyone.

While there are many thought leaders expressing themselves and sharing the importance of vulnerability, this is still not the default for most people.

Have you ever been on a car ride with someone where the silence was deafening? You know that something is up with them but they’d rather stare out the window with lips held tight instead of having a conversation. You can sense it because our ability to read a situation goes far beyond just language.

One of the reasons we like to follow people like Brene Brown and Russell Brand and all those influencers online who have expressed a part of their story to the world is that it’s brave and we have a strong desire to feel the same way.

Being self-compassionate does not mean you are soft although it often means opening yourself up, at least to yourself, so that you can correctly understand what and how you are feeling.

It is only through practice that you will come to understand how to express yourself.

The journey from self-neglect to self-compassion underscores a vital lesson: Taking care of oneself is not a selfish act, but a necessary one for sustainable giving.

Healthy selfishness is not about ignoring the needs of others but about finding a balance where self-care enables us to be more present and supportive. It challenges the false dichotomy of being selfish or selfless, highlighting that one can support oneself while still being generous to others.

To embody this practice without seeming rude or disappointing others, you can adopt a polite but firm communication approach, advocating for personal recharge time with simple and clear responses. This approach not only protects our boundaries but also encourages others to embrace self-care.

Practicing self-compassion also teaches us to break away from the relentless pursuit of perfection and the fear of judgment, allowing us to celebrate our achievements and embrace our vulnerabilities. By rewriting the societal scripts that equate self-compassion with complacency, we can recognize that progress and self-improvement sometimes require rest and reflection.

So let's reframe our understanding of self-care: it's not a luxury, but a cornerstone of a fulfilling and generous life. By embracing healthy selfishness and self-compassion, we not only enhance our own lives but also become a wellspring of strength and care for those around us. Let us all give ourselves the permission to prioritize our well-being, for it is in flourishing ourselves that we can truly uplift others.

Here’s What’s New This Month: Treatments This November

Hi Friends,

New Massage Therapy Treatment Times

Please welcome Lyndsay and Olivia who are joining Linda as the RMTs at the clinic this month!

• Lyndsay has already started and is available Thursday 9 am - 3 pm

• Olivia - starting Wed Nov 15, 1 pm - 4 pm and will have a few days available throughout November as she transitions to full-time availability starting in December.

Also new Reflexology offerings with a Certified Reflexologist

We are also excited to reintroduce reflexology treatments in our relaxation room! Natasha will start offering weekly treatments on Thursday from 3:00 pm - 8:30 pm. She is certified as a Registered Canadian Reflexology Therapist which means that your extended health benefits may reimburse you for your appointments with Natasha.

Pop-up Indian Head Massage and Swedish Relaxation Massage

Natasha is also going to be offering a pop-up relaxation day! She will offer a 60-minute relaxation massage (non-registered) and 45-minute Indian Head Massage.

A relaxation massage is a smooth, gentle treatment that relieves muscular tension, increases circulation, and promotes a general sense of relaxation. Swedish massage techniques are used to help increase circulation, and release muscle tension. Relieving tense muscles and reducing physical symptoms of stress can help calm the body and improve mood.

Aromatherapy such as Lavender or Eucalyptus can be added to add that extra relaxation to your massage.